Tebow conquers Dolphins, fans

Around 1 o'clock Sunday afternoon the most popular quarterback in the state of Florida trotted onto the field at Miami's Sun Life Stadium to a huge roar.

Tim Tebow was home. He had won a 2005 high school state championship as well as the 2008 national title with the Florida Gators in the former Joe Robbie Stadium and the fans were going crazy.

The twist of course, is that Tebow plays for visiting Denver. And even though a large part of the Miami crowd wore Tebow jerseys, others jeered in derision and hooted as he missed open receivers, got buried under blitzes or kept falling short on third down.

But Tebow rallied the Broncos with two touchdown passes in the final three minutes of the game to force overtime, and Matt Prater's 52-yard field goal gave Tebow and the Broncos an 18-15 win over the stunned Dolphins.

"It's tough to say, but man, Timmy did a great job," said Dolphins center Mike Pouncey, who played with Tebow at Florida. "Hopefully the critics will get off him about what he can't do and talk about the things that he can do, and that's figure out a way to win the game, no matter what."

Jeered at one point, Tebow said he ignored it.

"You can't lose confidence in yourself, or you've lost already," Tebow said. "When you get knocked down, you've got to keep getting back up."

The Jets are off to their first 4-0 start at home since 2004.

Cleveland's defense held Seattle to eight first downs and 137 total yards in an ugly, 6-3, win.

The big difference was an astonishing disparity of 43 minutes, 56 seconds to 17:04 in time of possession. Playing behind backup QB Charlie Whitehurst, Seattle converted just 2 of 12 third-down attempts.

Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez ended Atlanta's 23-16 win over Detroit with 1,104 career receptions - second all time to Hall of Famer Jerry Rice's 1,549.

Carolina's Cam Newton ran for his seventh TD in a 33-20 win over Washington, tying a record for most TDs rushing by a rookie quarterback since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. Eagles' backup QB Vince Young also rushed for seven as a rookie with Tennessee in 2005.

The Jets LaDainian Tomlinson became the fourth running back in NFL history with 600 catches. He joined Larry Centers (827), Marshall Faulk (767), and former Eagle Keith Byars (610).

Jerome Bettis, in London to promote the Tampa Bay-Chicago game, said he's had to tweak his nickname this week to fit in.

"I'm a double-decker Bus now," he said.

According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, if the Vikings get rebuked again for a new stadium before the end of the year, it would be surprising if they stay in Minnesota.

The paper also said that if things don't move rapidly enough in Los Angeles, the Vikings could be headed for San Antonio.

Let's end on a high note.

Jerome Harrison's surgery Friday to remove a brain tumor went well and doctors believe they removed all of the tumor, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported.

Harrison was placed on the reserve/non-football illness list after a proposed trade to the Eagles was voided after the tumor was discovered.